Too much? two intense sports at one time

[Anonymous]

My 10 year old has played travel soccer for 3 years and recently decided to tryout for winter swim. She made the team- three morning practices a week for swim plus three evening practices for soccer. She loves the idea of doing both but I am worried about it being too much. Anyone done or doing this with good advice?

[Anonymous]

I coached middle schoolers who were doing track and travel sports. It was a lot, and that was with track practices at school. Two practices at different places is really a lot.

[Anonymous]

My high schooler does it and makes it work (and actually it's 5 XC practices plus 4-5 swim practices), but she is super motivated/driven. I don't think most kids could handle, but if your child has the right personality, then maybe.

[Anonymous]

It would be too much for one of my children. The other one would be fine. Is it too much for you? I also think of my schedule and driving to all of these practices. A lot depends in our family if I can arrange carpools and get them to practices with my work schedule.

[Anonymous]

My 9 yr old does the same. I said I'd do both one more year then she has to pick!

[Anonymous]

I started another thread about "what age do you have to choose". Struggling with the same thing. 3.5 hours dance + 4 hours swimming/week. Next year she can choose, I think. This will be her last year of ES, and when MS starts I think it will be too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 10 year old has played travel soccer for 3 years and recently decided to tryout for winter swim. She made the team- three morning practices a week for swim plus three evening practices for soccer. She loves the idea of doing both but I am worried about it being too much. Anyone done or doing this with good advice?

Plus games and meets on the weekends. Would she have a morning and afternoon practice only once a week or is there more overlap? We were in the same situation last year and we just skipped the third swim practice so that DD has one practice each day. Is that an option for your DD?
You should also take into account the homework load and how fast your DD is at getting work done. The DD who did the two big commitment sports gets her work done quickly. I would not allow this for my other child who is less organized and would have difficulty doing homework. 4th is a big year at most schools.

[Anonymous]

In the same season. Just no.

Aside from getting homework and stuff like that done, when you commit to a team, you owe it to that team to be able to give 100%. 100% effort and 100% time. I was a coach for a varsity sport and also for a college sport and if you missed a practice (for reasons other than a family emergency or illness) you sat the next game. Dedication and reliability are important skills to teach. She has a team counting on her. It isn’t fair if she’s dragging ass or can’t make meets or practices because of a sport conflict.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the same season. Just no.

Aside from getting homework and stuff like that done, when you commit to a team, you owe it to that team to be able to give 100%. 100% effort and 100% time. I was a coach for a varsity sport and also for a college sport and if you missed a practice (for reasons other than a family emergency or illness) you sat the next game. Dedication and reliability are important skills to teach. She has a team counting on her. It isn’t fair if she’s dragging ass or can’t make meets or practices because of a sport conflict.

I’m the poster whose kid does XC and swimming. If you’re gonna have a second sport, swimming works well. Early morning practices generally don’t conflict with much, you generally have some flexibility with your choice of practices, and if you miss a meet, it doesn’t impact the team much. So scheduling wise, it’s doable. It’s whether your child has that much stamina to give 100% to both. YMMV

[Anonymous]

I guess it depends how much they want to do it and what their attitude is about handling it all. Can they get their homework done? Can they still see friends? Do clubs at school if desired? Are they getting enough sleep?

[Anonymous]

I would be first and most concerned about getting enough sleep and nutrition if there are early morning workouts plus afternoons. Doubles are not recommendable for kids under 14 yo, as they still grow and it might affect their development. School teachers would usually tell if the child comes tired and forgetful to classes. This is something to look into, sleep, rest and academics.

[Anonymous]

My kid did 3 sports at one time. It was fine for a while but eventually felt stressed out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be first and most concerned about getting enough sleep and nutrition if there are early morning workouts plus afternoons. Doubles are not recommendable for kids under 14 yo, as they still grow and it might affect their development. School teachers would usually tell if the child comes tired and forgetful to classes. This is something to look into, sleep, rest and academics.

Yup--many, many teens and tweens don't get enough sleep. It's a big problem. So, if she does both, will she have time to do her homework, eat decent meals, and get enough sleep? Because if something has to give, it's going to be sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be first and most concerned about getting enough sleep and nutrition if there are early morning workouts plus afternoons. Doubles are not recommendable for kids under 14 yo, as they still grow and it might affect their development. School teachers would usually tell if the child comes tired and forgetful to classes. This is something to look into, sleep, rest and academics.

Yup--many, many teens and tweens don't get enough sleep. It's a big problem. So, if she does both, will she have time to do her homework, eat decent meals, and get enough sleep? Because if something has to give, it's going to be sports.

This. The problem is the morning practices mean she should be getting to sleep earlier the night before. If she has soccer practice or a game the night before, she can’t. We do club swimming and ended up stopping our other sports last year because of this. To work the best, she needs little homework and test, and then one sport per day or less AND no sport the night before and early swim AND the ability to change her sleep schedule so she can fall asleep earlier the nights before swim.

[Anonymous]

2x a day practices (even if they are two different sports), should not be started before 12-14 (age) to avoid burnout, if college sports are in the future or participating on the national/world level if NOT expected.